I have been asking myself one question lately. What are the many pleasures of having kids?

Foolish people tend to focus on the negative even when everything is going well. Others are mostly positive… well, at least when things are going well! But unfortunately most of us tend to focus on the difficulties, the sadness, the wrongs that have been done to us.

When you expect your first child, you get excited, you almost cannot wait for that precious day when you’ll hold that new life in your arms. You know the difficulties that will come with this new born and despite of this you focus on the positive and get extreme joy out of these thoughts.

Couple kids later, you’re in your kitchen trying to accomplish many small tasks that seemed so easily and quickly done in the past. Your kids are crying and they’re not the only ones. You feel overwhelmed and alone. You think of all that you have to do, everything seems so big. Stop right there, shake your body, move around and then continue reading.

Today I want to share with you something I had to fight against all my life. What can I do when I find my limits? And I think I’m not the only one facing this sort of questioning.

First let’s look at an important question: do we have real limits? Lots of people will tell you no! If you want to reach your full potential, you must believe you have no limits. Let’s be realistic, we’re all bound by time, we all have a certain amount of energy, responsabilities, skills and talents. Before we continue, notice that these can shift, increase and evolve but they’ll still be limited.

Here is a short video showing our home office set-up. I have been standing up at my office desk for a few years now and have found it to be very beneficial for my back. Standing at our desk allows us to avoid sitting for a large portion of the day, which has been proven to be more helpful for leg and back health, as well as keeping your hips and leg joints from getting sore and tight.

Our desk is a re-purposed change table that my father made for us, with an adaptation from cheryl’s dad (we’re so appreciative to have fathers who are skilled craftsmen!). Standing also makes it easier to transition from computer work to other activities around the house, and keeps the kids from being tempted to play around on the computer/keyboard (a serious consideration with young children around).

For more information, take a look at our previous post on this subject.

Have you ever been in a situation that dragged you down and left you feeling heavy? We’ve all had those and it’s usually difficult to shake off the bad feelings. In the following video, I describe a small strategy that will show you how to lift your mood.

I like to call this strategy the human helium balloon. We all know how light a helium balloon is and you’ll use this mental image to make yourself feel lighter. This strategy combines effective breathing and visualization and much more since it uses your other senses.

Life is like a restaurant, you have to choose what you’re going to get.

Have you ever been to a restaurant where nothing on the menu appealed to you? Or perhaps you experienced the opposite — you had so many options that you were overwhelmed and couldn’t decide what to eat.

Life can be a lot like that. Have you ever looked around at your circumstances and nothing appealed to you? Or perhaps you saw what everyone else had and wondered why your life couldn’t be more appetizing. The difference between a restaurant menu and your life is that you get to decide what gets prepared because you’re the chef. Sometimes life puts us into situations where we feel we don’t have any choices but to stay depressed and stuck. But the truth is, we can create choice.

In this video, we share with you a simple and yet very powerful technique. It has the potential to change your perspective, the way you look at every situation and how you feel about your circumstances.

Superman’s suit worn by Christopher Reeve. Photo taken at the EMP Museum in Seattle.

I remember being 6 years old running on my home’s wrap-around porch and suddenly opening my Spring jacket pretending to be Superman. Then I would run back inside and ask my mom to snap my jacket back up so I coould do it all over again. You see, most of the time I felt more like Clark Kent than Superman. Growing with a disability, I felt fragile and was very dependent on others but imagining I was Mr. Kent gave me hope of becoming a hero.

As I got older, I got stronger and more confident. I developed a strong sense of responsibility, a love for helping people and fixing problems. You might say that those are noble traits, and for the most part you’d be right. These character traits helped me stay out of trouble, gave me purpose and shaped me into a dependable person. But I also developed a hero complex.

I was looking at my wedding band the other day and realized that I have become so accustomed to wearing it that I rarely look at it or even notice it anymore, it feels like it’s a part of me. On one hand, it shows that I’ve been married for awhile and that through the joy and hardships of life, Cheryl and I are a part of each other. On the other hand, I think I’m not taking full advantage of the power of the ring!

I have a simple technique that will help you to use your wedding ring in a new way; it will help you to see the best in your spouse.